Oldest Shipwreck in Alaska Discovered off Kodiak

Divers working eighty feet below the surface of Monk’s Lagoon off Kodiak Island, Alaska have identified the remains of the Russian-American Company ship Kad’yak lost in 1860. The 132-foot bark built in Lubeck, Germany in 1851 was headed for San Francisco carrying 350 tons of ice when she struck an uncharted rock on March 30 and quickly filed with water. The ice kept the vessel afloat for three days. Captain Illarion Archimandritof ordered the crew into the boats, saving all hands. Attempts to tow the ship towards shore using row boats failed. The Kad’yak drifted about six miles before settling to the bottom at Monk’s Lagoon on Spruce Island.

The investigators are nautical archaeologists from the Maritime Studies Program at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. The team includes Frank Cantelas, Dr. Timothy Runyan, Steve Sellers, Jason Rogers and Evguenia Anichtchenko from East Carolina University, Dr Bradley Stevens of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service laboratory in Kodiak, Tane Casserley of NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Program in Newport News, Virginia, David McMahan archaeologist for the Alaska Office of History and Archaeology, and several volunteers. The project is funded by the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and the National Science Foundation. Other supporters include the Kodiak Historical Society, operator of the Baranov Museum, the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, the Kodiak Maritime Museum,and the Ouzinkie Native Corporation. Diving operations are conducted from the 92-foot research vessel Big Valley captained by Gary Edwards of Kodiak.

The shipwreck figures prominently in the history of Native Alaskans and is part of the oral tradition of the villagers of Ouzinkie. Russian Orthodox missionaries converted most of the local peoples. The most prominent missionary was Father Herman who died in 1836 and was later canonized as St Herman. He established a chapel and orphanage on Spruce Island working with the Native people. Before sailing, Captain Archimandritof promised to pay homage to St Herman at his chapel, but he did not. Local tradition suggests that it was divine retribution when the Kad’yak hit an uncharted submerged rock and then drifted to Spruce Island where it sank to the bottom immediately before St Herman’s shore side chapel. The top of the mainmast and a yard arm stood above the surface forming a cross This sign was taken as an admonition to the captain for his failure to hold the promised service before sailing.

The shipwreck was discovered in July 2003 by a team led by Brad Stevens His study of historic charts and records over many years led him to archaeologist Mike Yarborough who found records in the National Archives and Dr. Lydia Black, a noted scholar on Russian Alaska. She directed him to a chart with position names that presented a new possible location for the Kad’yak. Using this information, he projected a new location for the shipwreck. The dive team located the remains of a wooden ship and a few pieces of the structure. These items could not confirm that the remains were those of the Kad’yak. This was accomplished by the East Carolina University-led team on July 15 when a brass object was recovered that may be the hub of the ship’s wheel. Clearly inscribed in Russian is the ship’s name. It is extraordinary for underwater archaeologists to identify a 144-year old shipwreck this quickly. That evening at a public presentation at Kodiak College, project director Frank Cantelas pulled back the cloth covering the artifact now kept in fresh water. The audience was visibly moved and began to applaud.

The expedition will continue through July 26. The site will be mapped and a few more artifacts recovered for diagnostic purposes. A permit to investigate the site was issued to East Carolina University by the Alaska Office of History and Archaeology, Department of Natural Resources. The state claimed the wreck because it lies within three miles of shore. The State Historic Preservation Officer has declared the Kad’yak eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The project is the first professionally conducted maritime archaeological project in Alaska.

Weather conditions began with a few sunny days, but since then temperatures are often below 60 degrees accompanied by fog and rain. The water temperature has warmed to 47 degrees. The cold water has helped preserve a good portion of the ship’s timbers. The researchers believe there are other significant well-preserved historic shipwrecks among the estimated several thousand that lie in Alaskan waters.

Kodiak Island is more famous for its huge bears than shipwrecks. But an additional attraction one day may be an exhibition concerning the Kad’yak. The town of Kodiak was a center for the trading activities of the Russian-American Company operating under a charter from the Russian czar. Kad’yak is the only Russian-American Company ship ever discovered. The wreck of the Kad’yak will provide new information on the period of Russian control of Alaska prior to its purchase by the United States in 1867.